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1.
Greig A. Mill 《Journal of Business Ethics》2006,63(2):131-148
This paper empirically examines the financial performance of a UK unit trust that was initially “conventional” and later adopted
socially responsible investment (SRI) principles (ethical investment principles). Comparison is made with three similar conventional
funds whose investment objectives remained unchanged. Analysis techniques employed in previous studies find similar results:
mean risk-adjusted performance is unchanged by the switch to SRI, with no evidence of over-or under-performance relative to
the benchmark market index by any of the four funds. More interestingly, changes in variability of returns over time are also
modelled using generalised autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity models, not previously applied to SRI funds so far
as is known. Results show a temporary increase in variability of returns, followed by a return to previous levels after around
4 years. Evidence shows the increased variability to be associated with the adoption of SRI rather than with a change in fund
management. Possible explanations for the subsequent reduction in variability include the spread of corporate social responsibility
activities by firms and learning by fund managers. In addition to reporting on a previously unobserved phenomenon, this paper
raises questions for further research. 相似文献
2.
As Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) enters the mainstream of professional and institutional investment practice, some
perplexities arise. Some SRI market participants are well schooled in finance but are hesitative as to how to apply non-financial
criteria in the management of portfolios. Governments too are giving SRI more attention and, in some countries, are discussion
whether and how to regulate the SRI market. Advocacy groups are targeting SRI projects through media campaigns using political
discourse. Many of the pertinent questions that come with these perplexities are of the philosophical or ethical type and
concern legitimisation, demarcation of responsibilities, interpretation of norms and policy formulation. The inclusion of
non-financial criteria into investment decision-making leads to a ‹puzzle in SRI’ for which this article offers a solution.
The puzzle arises when the day-to-day implementation of an SRI-policy coincides with the process of administering justice.
Three questions make up that puzzle: (1) what should an␣investor do when allegations arise about a corporation, (2) what should
an investor do when a corporation is brought before a court, (3) what should an investor do when a corporation is found guilty
by a court. This article argues, by distinguishing between the rationality of the investor and that of the judge, that allegations,
court cases or court verdicts should not be reasons to disinvest from a corporation. This article offers examples from investor
practice and points out in which way allegations, court cases and court verdicts make sense for investor behaviour. 相似文献
3.
Karen L. Benson Timothy J. Brailsford Jacquelyn E. Humphrey 《Journal of Business Ethics》2006,65(4):337-357
To date, research into socially responsible investment (SRI), and in particular the socially responsible investment funds
industry, has focused on whether investing in SRI assets has any differential impact on investor returns. Prior findings generally
suggest that, on a risk-adjusted basis, there is no difference in performance between SRI and conventional funds. This result
has led to questions about whether SRI funds are really any different from conventional funds. This paper examines whether
the portfolio allocation across industry sectors and the stock-picking ability of SRI managers are different when compared
to conventional fund managers. The study finds that SRI funds exhibit different industry betas consistent with different portfolio
positions, but that these differences vary from year to year. It is also found that there is little difference in stock-picking
ability between the two groups of fund managers. 相似文献
4.
Jonas Nilsson 《Journal of Business Ethics》2008,83(2):307-325
This article addresses the growing industry of retail socially responsible investment (SRI) profiled mutual funds. Very few
previous studies have examined the final consumer of SRI profiled mutual funds. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to,
in an exploratory manner, examine the impact of a number of pro-social, financial performance, and socio-demographic variables
on SRI behavior in order to explain why investors choose to invest different proportions of their investment portfolio in
SRI profiled funds. An ordinal logistic regression analysis on 528 private investors revealed that two of the three pro-social
variables had a positive impact on how much the consumer invested in SRI profiled funds. Moreover, there was proof of a non-altruistic
motive for investing in SRI as consumers who perceive that financial return of SRI is equal or better than “regular” mutual
funds, invested a greater proportion of their portfolio in SRI profiled mutual funds. Furthermore, the results showed that
women and better-educated investors were more likely to invest a greater proportion of their investment portfolio in SRI.
Overall, the findings indicate that both financial perceptions and pro-social attitudes are connected to consumer investment
in SRI. 相似文献
5.
The paper explores the emergence and development of socially responsible investment (SRI) in Japan. SRI is a recent field
in Japan. It is not clear which model it will follow: the European, American or its own model. Through the analysis of the
historical roots of SRI, the key actors and motivations that have contributed to its diffusion, the paper provides explorative
grounds to sketch the translation mechanisms of SRI in Japan and offers insight into its future path. Based on primary and
secondary sources of information, the paper shows that although SRI in Japan holds some similarities with the U.S. and especially
with the European model, it remains unique. It highlights the importance of translation and re-interpretation in adopting
a practice in a new context. SRI in Japan is still in a dynamic construction process. Although we expect it to develop further,
it is difficult to depict its future shape and form. 相似文献
6.
Arun A. Iyer 《Journal of Business Ethics》2006,67(4):393-406
In this article we discuss whether it pays to invest ethically. Our aim is to examine corporate social responsibility from
philosophical, moral and practical points of views. We focus on two main issues related to ethical investments. Firstly we
discuss the moral dilemma of how capitalism has changed its shape in today’s world and from ‘blaming the business’ there is
a general attempt to use the markets to promote ethics values and corporate social responsibility. Secondly, we analyze the
growth of ethical investment funds in the UK today, and their performance, and highlight some of the institutional investors
involved in the management of ethical funds. We discuss whether ethical investments really succeed in reducing the conflict
between profit-making and social responsibility as they promise or whether they use commercial rhetoric and market mechanism
to merely sell us our own perceived values back. We conclude that the paper has a key contribution in setting the scene for
future research in an area that is evolving and of fundamental importance to companies, investors and various stakeholder
groups. 相似文献
7.
Stewart Jones Sandra van der Laan Geoff Frost Janice Loftus 《Journal of Business Ethics》2008,80(2):181-203
Interest in the notion of the possible financial sacrifice suffered by socially responsible investment (SRI) fund investors
for considering ethical, social and environmental issues in their investment decisions has spawned considerable academic interest
in the performance of SRI funds. Both the Australian and international research literature have yielded largely mixed results.
However, several of these studies are hampered by methodological problems which can obscure the significance of reported results,
such as the use of small sample sizes, inconsistencies in the time frames selected to analyse performance and different modelling
frameworks used to estimate investment returns. This study attempts to redress some of these issues by investigating the returns
performance of 89 ethical funds in Australia over the period 1986–2005. Using a multi-factor CAPM model [Fama, E. F., and
K. R. French (1996) J. Finance
51(1), 55] (which controls for factors such as size, book-to-market value and momentum) we find that ethical funds significantly
under-perform the market in Australia, particularly in the most recent 5 years of our sample period (2000–2005). Risk adjusted
returns (using Jensen’s alpha) indicate that average annual underperformance is around 1.52% in the 2000–2005 period for our
sample and .88% over the whole sample period. Our results contrast with many previous studies (both Australian and international),
which have not found statistically significant differences in the performance of ethical funds relative to market benchmarks
and/or a matched sample of conventional funds.
Stewart Jones is a Professor of Accounting with the University of Sydney, appointed in 2001. His research interests embrace
credit risk modelling, capital markets research, standard setting and accounting theory.
Sandra van der Laan is a lecturer in the Discipline of Accounting at the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on accounting
as a social discourse and accounting as a mechanism to discharge a broad range of corporate accountabilities.
Geoff Frost is an Associate Professor of Accounting at the University of Sydney. His research interests include corporate
social responsibility and ethical investment.
Janice Loftus is a senior lecturer in accounting at the University of Sydney. Her current research interests include financial
accounting and corporate social responsibility reporting. 相似文献
8.
Why Wine is not Glue? The Unresolved Problem of Negative Screening in Socially Responsible Investing 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
The purpose of socially responsible investing (SRI) is to: (1) allow investors to reflect their personal values and ethics
in their choices, and (2) encourage companies to improve their ethical, social, and environmental performance. In order to
achieve these ends, the means SRI fund managers employ include the use of negative screening, or the exclusion of companies
involved in “sinful” industries. We argue that there are problems with this methodology, both at a theoretical and at a practical
level. As a consequence, current SRI offerings cannot accurately reflect the values and ethical beliefs they propose to represent.
Moreover, the use of a␣priori criteria is potentially misleading, as we show by discussing examples of glue and wine making. Applying this flawed approach
SRI funds fail to influence the direction of the firms they deem most in need of re-directing. Rather than engaging in the
simple a␣priori assumption that some industries are “saints” while others are “sinners” (Freeman, 2007) we suggest a new framework upon which
the SRI screening methodology could be grounded. Embracing the philosophical tradition of American pragmatism, we suggest
that SRI methodology could be improved by engaging in an analysis based on (1) the actual impacts of the company’s products
and services, (2) the company’s relationships with its specific, real stakeholders, and (3) the contingent environment (social,
economic, political, legal, and cultural) in which the business operates. 相似文献
9.
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) indices play a major role in the stock markets. A connection between doing good and doing well in business is implied. Leading indices, such as the Domini Social Index and others, exemplify the movement toward investing in socially responsible corporations. However, the question remains: Does the ratings-based methodology for assessing corporate social responsibility (CSR) provide an incentive to firms excluded from SRI indices to invest in CSR? Not in its current format. The ratings-based methodology employed by SRI indices in their selection processes excludes many corporations by creating limited-membership lists. This received ratings-based structure is yet to offer an incentive for most of the excluded corporations to invest in improving their levels of CSR. We, therefore, ask under what circumstances a ratings-based method for assessing CSR could provide an incentive to firms excluded from SRI indices to invest in CSR. In this article, we attempt to offer a theoretical reply to this question. We show that when all firms are publicly ranked according to SRI index parameters, such indices can indeed create a market incentive for increased investment by firms in improving their performance in the area of social responsibility. We further show that this incentive tapers off as the amount of investment required exceeds a certain point or if the amount of payback on that investment fails to reach a certain threshold. 相似文献
10.
In this article, we shed light on the debate about the financial performance of socially responsible investment (SRI) mutual
funds by separately analyzing the contributions of before-fee performance and fees to SRI funds’ performance, and by investigating
the role played by fund management companies in the determination of those variables. We apply the matching estimator methodology
to obtain our results and find that in the period 1997–2005, US SRI funds had better before- and after-fee performance than
conventional funds with similar characteristics. The differences, however, are driven exclusively by SRI funds run by management
companies specialized in SRI. While these funds significantly outperform similar conventional funds, funds run by companies
not specialized in SRI underperform their matched conventional funds. We find no significant differences in fees between SRI
and conventional funds except in one case: SRI funds are cheaper than conventional funds run by the same management company. 相似文献
11.
Finance as a Driver of Corporate Social Responsibility 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Bert Scholtens 《Journal of Business Ethics》2006,68(1):19-33
Finance is grease to the economy. Therefore, we assume that it may affect corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the sustainability of economic development too. This paper discusses the transmission mechanisms between finance and sustainability. We find that there is no simple one-to-one relationship between financial development and sustainable development but there are various – often indirect – linkages. It appears that most of the literature concentrates on the role of public shareholders when it comes to changing corporate policy and performance in a more sustainable direction. However, this focus neglects the potential impact of the credit channel and private equity on a firm’s non-financial policies and performance. These very powerful mechanisms can govern business policies and practices. Therefore, there appears to be much more scope for finance to promote socially and environmentally desirable activities and to discourage detrimental activities than has been acknowledged in the academic literature so far.Bert Scholtens received his Ph.D. at the University of Amsterdam in 1994. Since 1999 he has been working at the Department of Finance of the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. His research particularly looks into the interactions between financial institutions and sustainable development/corporate social responsibility. He has recently published in, among others, Ecological Economics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Finance letters, Journal of Investing, and Sustainable Development. 相似文献
12.
Jacob Park 《International Journal of Consumer Studies》2009,33(2):206-214
The origins of the modern socially responsible investment (SRI) movement can be traced to the turbulent period in the 1960s when powerful social undercurrents including environmentalism and anti‐war activism fuelled a rise, in a radical change, in the way society viewed faith, values and commerce. Today, nearly 1 out of every US$9 under professional management in the US is currently invested using social investment strategies while the European green and ethical investment market is estimated to be €1 trillion or as much as 10–15% of the total funds under management. While some preliminary figures and analyses exist for countries outside these two regions, SRI has been, to date, largely explored within the context of North America and Europe. This is unfortunate as the sustainability of SRI as a consumer market is going to depend, to a great extent, to what happens outside of North America and Europe, and most notably in the rapidly developing Asian economies. In this article, I will explore the development of SRI as a mainstream financial consumer instrument in industrialized (Japan) and emerging (Hong Kong/China) economies of the Asia Pacific region. To fully analyse the SRI market development in Hong Kong and Japan, I will examine the following three issues and questions: first, how does the sustainable consumption framework offer a useful lens from which to explore SRI, and why is the Asia Pacific market and policy context so important for the broader issue of sustainable consumption? Second, what precisely is SRI and how did it develop into an important global financial investment vehicle? Third, how did the SRI market develop in the case of Hong Kong and Japan? I will then conclude the article with some analysis on the important lessons SRI market development in Hong Kong and Japan hold for market sustainability of the financial sector and sustainable consumption. 相似文献
13.
Angeles Fernandez-Izquierdo Juan Carlos Matallin-Saez 《Journal of Business Ethics》2008,81(2):247-260
There is currently much debate in the economic literature about whether ethical investment involves a financial sacrifice
or premium. One of the most common methods of testing this compares the financial performance of ethical investment funds
with that of other funds not considered “socially responsible” or ethical. The majority of these research studies evaluate
the performance of the ethical funds according to classic measures, whereby different financial markets, in different countries
and for different periods of time serve as reference for evaluation. The ultimate conclusion of all of these studies is that
there are no significant differences between the performance results of one type of funds and the other. In Spain, ethical
investment funds are still an incipient sector of investment. To date, the Spanish market has not been included in any type
of analysis of these characteristics. Therefore the main objective of this article is to compare the financial performance
of ethical investment funds to that of other funds in the Spanish retail market. We propose the aggregate type of analysis
as the Spanish ethical investment funds have experienced a weaker development in comparison to those of other developed countries.
In the first step we suggest the financial performance to be compared by style analysis since the asset distribution of the
Spanish Social Return Investment (SRI) funds differs from the European trend. In particular, we use the multifactor regression
model with style benchmarks. We found that their financial performance is in all cases superior or similar to that achieved
by the rest of the funds. In the second step, to achieve a more robust and homogeneous comparison, we used the bootstrap method,
comparing ethical and non-ethical fund subsamples by homogeneous groups. No significant differences between these two types
of funds have been found. Thus, if we assume the positive o neutral effect of ethical investment on investor utility in the
retail Spanish market the financial and social performance (FSP) of ethical funds will be, in aggregate, superior to the FSP
achieved by conventional funds. In conclusion, the financial performance of ethical mutual funds in Spain is no sacrifice. 相似文献
14.
Keeping Ethical Investment Ethical: Regulatory Issues for Investing for Sustainability 总被引:1,自引:0,他引:1
Benjamin J. Richardson 《Journal of Business Ethics》2009,87(4):555-572
Regulation must target the financial sector, which often funds and profits from environmentally unsustainable development.
In an era of global financial markets, the financial sector has a crucial impact on the state of the environment. The long-standing
movement for ethically and socially responsible investment (SRI) has recently begun to advocate environmental standards for
financiers. While this movement is gaining more adherents, it has increasingly justified responsible financing as a path to
be prosperous, rather than virtuous. This trend partly owes to how financial institutions view their legal responsibilities.
The business case motivations that now predominantly drive SRI are not sufficient to make the financial sector a means to
sustainable development. Some modest legal reforms to improve the quality and extent of SRI have yet to make a tangible difference.
A more ambitious strategy to promote SRI for environmental sustainability is possible, based on reforming the fiduciary duties
of financial institutions. Such duties, tied to concrete performance standards, could make financiers invest in more ethically
responsible ways. Other collateral reforms to financial markets, including improved corporate environmental reporting, are
required to promote sustainability. 相似文献
15.
The purpose of this exploratory study is to examine the use of an ethical intervention strategy – counterexplanation – on
individuals’ ethical decision-making. As opposed to providing reasons to support a decision in the case of explanation, counterexplanation
is the provision of reasons that either speak against or provide evidence against a chosen course of action. The number of
explanations and/or counterexplanations provided by the participants is expected to have a significant effect on ethical evaluation
and intention. The number of explanations is expected to be negatively related to ethical decision-making while the number
of counterexplanations is expected to be positively related to ethical decision-making. The experiment, that made use of five
ethical vignettes, manipulated four treatment groups – explanation, counterexplanation, explanation/counterexplanation, and
counterexplanation/explanation. Participants were randomly assigned to one of the four reatments. They performed the requirements
of their treatment before recording their ethical evaluations and intentions. As expected, larger numbers of explanations
led to less ethical decision-making and larger numbers of counterexplanations led to more ethical decision-making. However,
when both types of explanations are required, the order of counterexplaining before explaining is more desirable as it leads
to more ethical decision-making. The study also reports that individuals with high social desirability bias (a tendency to
present oneself in a culturally acceptable manner) may generate less counterexplanations. Implications of the findings are
explained in the paper. 相似文献
16.
Increased concern for the environment has increased the number of investment opportunities in mutual funds specialized in
promoting responsible environmental attitudes. This article examines the performance and risk sensitivities of US green mutual
funds vis-à-vis their conventional peers. We also analyze and compare this performance relative to other socially responsible
investing (SRI) mutual funds. In order to implement this analysis, we apply a CAPM-based methodology and find that in the
1987–2009 period, environ- mental funds had lower performance than conventional funds with similar characteristics. However,
if we focus on a more recent period (2001–2009), green funds achieved adjusted returns not significantly different from the
rest of SRI and conventional mutual funds. 相似文献
17.
A Speech-Act Model for Talking to Management. Building a Framework for Evaluating Communication within the SRI Engagement Process 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:0
Socially Responsible Investment (SRI) has grown considerably over the past three decades. One form of SRI, engagement-SRI,
is today by far the most practiced form of SRI (in assets managed) and has the potential to mainstream SRI even further. However,
lack of formalized engagement procedures and evaluation tools leave the engagement practice too opaque for such a mainstreaming.
This article can be considered as a first step in the development of a standard for the engagement practice. By developing
an engagement heuristic, this article offers a more transparent engagement dialog. Drawing on Stevenson’s and Austin’s speech-act
theories, this article develops a classification of management’s responses to the signaling of allegations and controversies
on two dimensions: a factual dimension concerning (dis)agreements on factual claims and an attitudinal dimension concerning
(dis)agreements on responsibilities, values, and norms. On the basis of the distinctions this article develops, the authors
provide for a synoptic table and offer a next-step heuristic for the engagement process that started with signaling a concern
to management. The article uses an engagement logic that, while keeping the exit option for the investor open, allows management
to address signaled concerns without having to let down or to opt out at the first setback in the dialog process between investor
and investee corporation.
Wim Vandekerckhove is Assistant Professor of Practical Ethics at
Ghent University, Center for Ethics & Value Inquiry.
Jos Leys is Sustainable Development Officer with Dexia.
Dirk Van Braeckel is Head of Research with Vigeo Group S.A. 相似文献
18.
Joakim Sandberg 《Journal of Business Ethics》2011,101(1):143-162
A critical issue for the future growth and impact of socially responsible investment (SRI) is whether institutional investors
are legally permitted to engage in it – in particular whether it is compatible with the fiduciary duties of trustees. An ambitious
report from the United Nations Environment Programme’s Finance Initiative (UNEP FI), commonly referred to as the ‘Freshfields
report’, has recently given rise to considerable optimism on this issue among proponents of SRI. The present article puts
the arguments of the Freshfields report into some further both empirical and critical perspective, however, and suggests that
its findings do not call for very much optimism. The general argument is that while the understanding of fiduciary duty outlined
by the Freshfields report seems to allow institutional investors to at least sometimes take some social or environmental considerations into account, the support it gives for SRI is notably contingent and, furthermore,
it rules out exactly the kind of SRI which proponents of social responsibility and environmental sustainability should hold
in highest regard – proactive cases and socially effective investment strategies. If SRI is to become an important force for
corporate social responsibility through its adoption by institutional investors, then, it is suggested that legal reform is
needed. 相似文献
19.
Socially Responsible Institutional Investment in Private Equity 总被引:1,自引:1,他引:1
This article studies institutional investor allocations to the socially responsible asset class. We propose two elements influence
socially responsible institutional investment in private equity: internal organizational structure, and internationalization.
We study socially responsible investments from Dutch institutional investments into private equity funds, and compare socially
responsible investment across different asset classes and different types of institutional investors (banks, insurance companies,
and pension funds). The data indicate socially responsible investment in private equity is 40–50% more common when the decision
to implement such an investment plan is centralised with a single chief investment officer. Socially responsible investment
in private equity is also more common among institutional investors with a greater international investment focus, and less
common among fund-of-fund private equity investments. 相似文献
20.
In this paper, we critique the emergent international normative framework of growth – the knowledge economy. We point out
that the standardized character of knowledge economy’s flagship – intellectual property rights (IPRs) – has an adverse impact
on women in emerging economies, such as India. Conversely, this impact on women, a significant consumer segment, has a feedback
effect in terms of market growth. Conceptually, we analyze the consequences of knowledge economy and standardized IPR through
a feminist lens. We extend the analyses by pointing to various contradictions surrounding growth norms; for example, there
are inherent contradictions between established “formal” legalistic interpretation of IPR, “soft law” norms of corporate social
responsibility, a fluid situation of moral claims of human rights, and different institutional capabilities at the international
and domestic level. Consequently, we are able to demonstrate how standard IPR laws fail to deliver equity for all. We argue
our case through exploring the growth aspects of the agricultural sector in India and the adverse impact of standard biopatenting
on women farmers’ rights (as producers and consumers) and preservation of environment. We suggest that desired gendered equity
is better achieved when there is a constellation of actors – private-sector business, the state, and civil-society leaders
– working together to ensure a balanced development through tailoring of IPR to local needs. 相似文献